


Beam

by cherryjam (blueskull)



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [14]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Canon Divergence, FFxivWrite2020, Gen, Mentor-Student Relationship, Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Samurai, Samurai Questline (Final Fantasy XIV), samurai level 60 quest spoilers, written for ffxivwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueskull/pseuds/cherryjam
Summary: He supposes there is as much poetry in seeing the streaks of blood stain the pure white snow as the fragile snowflakes whip around them.
Relationships: Musosai & Warrior of Light
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913422
Kudos: 2





	Beam

“Please, Master, we don’t have to do this!”

The miqo’te’s pleas fall upon deaf ears as Musosai draws his katana, shaking his head. Never had he imagined his final battle would be upon snowy mountains, but within grassy fields. The blades of grass themselves would cry out with their dewy scent as their katana blades slashed and clashed, slicing their petalled heads to the ground.

He supposes there is as much poetry in seeing the streaks of blood stain the pure white snow as the fragile snowflakes whip around them.

“‘Tis not your master who stands before you now, but an unrepentant evil.” Slowly, he shifts his stance, his eyes narrowing as he takes in her outline in the storm. “If you do not strike me down, it is you who will fall.”

How he hopes not. This beleaguered, kind girl...her very presence had been a salve to him as much as her ebullient optimism had wounded him. She had been so bright, so pure that even as he passed his knowledge to her, he had felt utterly poisonous, unworthy of her attentions. Not deserving of the brilliant beam of a smile she so often gave him, the determination in her voice, her unquenchable passion and adoration for the world. On one hand — it had revived him. And yet, just as much, he had felt his true self fester.

Unworthy. He was not worthy of Laurelis’ candour, her joy, her respect. He was merely another evil to be cut aside and vanquished. And he knew she was ready to do so.

If only she would draw the katana strapped to her side.

She stumbles in the snow, darting away from his strikes with an unprecedented quickness even in this weather. Her mismatched gaze takes in his every move, his every blow as he whirls across this world of white. And yet not a single drop of red mars the expanse around them, for neither has yet managed to lay a finger upon the other.

“Please, master, let’s...! Let’s just go home!” Instead, she sees fit to waste her breath upon piteous pleas and excuses. Even though she knows full well he is not, and will never be...her master. Because that man is a farce.

“Is this truly the culmination of all Musosai has ever taught you? His legacy?” he hisses through clenched teeth as he brings another slash down upon her. “To simply beg and plead as evil reigns? Truly, what a fool of a man, no better than a simple cur.”

His next blow meets ringing steel — and holds. Laurelis glowers at him with grim, heterochromatic eyes, her ears flattened to her pink hair. Her jaw is set as she pushes him away, her tail lashing from side to side. Finally. Finally, he has made her angry enough to kill him. She finally _hates_ him.

The smile that crosses his face is bittersweet. He’s simply relieved it will finally end — and that, perhaps, he will not have to cut down his star student.

Ah —

It takes not even a moment, and she’s slipped past his defenses to knock the katana hurtling from his hands. The metal sings as if embeds itself into the snow, and with one sweep at his legs, the old samurai finds himself on his back. A cough of a laugh manages to leave him.

“Well done, my pupil. You have...fulfilled your duty. And I, my purpose. Now...all that is left is for you to finish it.”

As Laurelis approaches him with her set jaw, lips taut, clearly furious despite the tears still rolling down her cheeks, he can believe it. And as she lifts her blade despite Momozigo’s pleading —

He simply waits to feel her blade sinking into his flesh.

The katana whistles as it flows through the air, but nothing touches him. When he opens his eyes, she still looms above him, sheathing her katana.

“I have excised the evil within you, and absolved you of your crimes. One fewer evil afflicts the realm. Now...come with me, Master. Let’s go home. You must be so cold.”

And holds out her hand to him. The cold Coerthan sun frames her, and she passes her warmth on to it.

As ever she was a beam of sunlight into his darkness, this student of his.

He lifts his harsh, weathered hand to take Laurelis’, and lets her pull him into the light.

“You have become...a greater samurai than I ever dared to hope. Living in shame...and coming to this land...was worth it.”

“O-oh, not this. We’re going home. And we’re going to get you warm.”


End file.
